North Carolina Prison Guard Beaten, Stabbed; Sources Say His Past Brutality Made Him a Target
by Monte McCoin
Brent Soucier was hired as a prison guard by the then-North Carolina Department of Correction in 1997. Only four months earlier, he had been fired from his job as a guard in Vermont after being convicted of assault for holding a cocked semi-automatic handgun against a man’s head so hard that it made his ear bleed. A 2013 lawsuit previously reported by PLN included allegations levied against Soucier by eight prisoners at the Central Prison, who claimed he beat them while they were handcuffed in areas not covered by video cameras. [See: PLN, Apr. 2018, p.14].
According to court records cited by TV station WRAL, Soucier, 44, has been named in at least six federal lawsuits that claim he violated prisoners’ rights. Two of those cases are pending, three were dismissed and a sixth settled. In one of the pending cases, Soucier is accused of “attacking inmates in full restraints, breaking their arms, punching them in the face, and pretending the inmate provoked the assault.”
On June 19, 2018, Soucier, who is currently employed as a unit manager at the Central Prison, was beaten and stabbed with homemade weapons by prisoners Jaquan Lane, 23, and Andrew Ellis, 32. He was hospitalized following the incident. According to WRAL, sources said Soucier “may have been targeted for attack because he has repeatedly been accused of abusing inmates.”
Pamela Walker, a spokesperson for the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, said the incident is being reviewed by the State Bureau of Investigation.
Sources: www.newsobserver.com, www.wral.com
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